Sunstein Ch 2
1. The Idea of the Public Forum a. Free Speech i. Common understanding of free speech is that the government is forbidden from censoring its citizens. The question is, how much can the government censor, and what should they have the right to censor? ii. Public streets and parks are places that can be used to display free speech. This was ruled by the Supreme Court. iii. Government can restrict the “time, place, and manner” of speech in public places. (example: citizen cannot set off fireworks in the streets at 3 AM to protest.) iv. The public-forum doctrine indicates that the government not only doesn’t penalize free speech, but subsidizes it through creation and maintenance of parks and public spaces. (Full definition of the public-forum doctrine of the First Amendment can be found HERE) b. Public Forum i. Traditional examples of Public Forum include parks and streets. In modern times, online destinations (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs) and digital media are becoming much more popular. ii. Recently there has been a push to declare Airports as a public forum, but the Supreme Court has rejected this idea even though it is a place where diverse crowds congregate. iii. The Supreme Court seems determined to stick to its historical definition of Public Forum. They are wary that it is a slippery slope in which once they vary their definition it will be hard to draw the line at where public forums begin and end. a. Not all members of the court are staunchly opposed to evolving the definition, as Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy came out recognizing that in this day and age minds are not only changed in streets and parks, but also in electronic media. c. The Three Goals of Public Forum i. Goal 1: ensures that speakers can have access to large groups of people. ii. Goal 2: allows speakers to have general access to heterogeneous people, but also to specific people and specific institutions with whom they have a complaint. iii. Goal 3: increases the likelihood that people generally will be exposed to a wide variety of people and views. d. Unplanned Encounters i. Definition: the person did not choose or foresee the encounter. ii. Example: a person encounters a protest that does not irritate them; they may even be glad that they came accross it. On the other hand, a person may come accross a beggar asking for money, in this case the person would have chosen to "filter out" the situation if they could have. e. Irritations i. Definition ii. Example f. Changing a Person’s Point of View i. Newspapers ii. Nightly News Broadcast 2. Republicanism and Deliberate Democracy a. Definition of “Republic” b. Definition of “Civic Virtue” c. Definition of “Deliberate Democracy” i. Ideas behind these Definitions 1. Filtering d. Examples of these Ideas: i. E Pluribus Unum 1. Example ii. Jefferson vs. Madison 1. Example iii. Two Concepts of Sovereignty ' 1. Definition of “Sovereignty”Sovereignty and examples' a. To have sovereignty is to maintain ultimate control over a specific territory/community. Sovereignty can be related to independence and freedom of choice depending on the extent and the size of the territory in question. b. Examples: i. “Upon leaving home she felt that she had achieved sovereignty for the first time in her life” ii. “As parts of the same sovereignty, the states should not enact laws intended to harm one another economically”—this example referring to the states as being a part of a sovereign nation. iii. This VIDEO has some insight to what sovereignty means… beware the guy talking is a little crazy! ' 2. Concept 1' a. Consumer Sovereignty: Personal authority to choose any products and filter the particular items they do not want. Stipulations only exist concerning payment. b. More concerned with personal ‘taste’ and looking to fulfill individual needs- Clashes with the idea of political sovereignty c. The idea behind free market. 3. Concept 2 a. Political Sovereignty: Authority of political power to be openly debated and discussed so that the ‘consumers’ cannot filter the messages. b. This can undermine consumer sovereignty. c. Forms the basis for ‘Free Nations’. d. Requires that government have open discussion and reason (justification); both of which are made public. ' ' 4. Consumer versus Political a. The basic problem between the two can be summarized as the passage on page 40 of the reading states, “The commitment to consumer sovereignty will undermine political sovereignty if free consumer choices result in insufficient understanding of public problems, or if they make it difficult to have anything like a shared deliberative culture…We will disserve our own aspirations if we confound consumer sovereignty with political sovereignty. iv. Holmes versus Brandeis 1. Holmes’ Position: Freedom of speech is a right that involves the ‘free trade of ideas’- thus conforming more towards an independency without obligation. He also emphasizes that government cannot interfere with this free speech. 2. Brandeis Position: Speech is not only a right, but also a duty of the ‘good’ citizen. “The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people”… this describes Brandeis’ opinion that for democracy and social well being we must be open to and participate in public discussion- whether planned or unplanned, wanted or unwanted. 3. Republicanism without Nostalgia a. Difficulties of Filtering -- The author states that there are three problems associated with filtering. i. Fragmentation 1. Definition: Fragmentation stems from the creation of diverse communities which has members that listen and talk mostly to just each other. One of the issues, therein, is all of the members coming to a mutual understanding. The author goes on to say that these diverse groups tend to "polarize in a way that can breed extremism and even hatred and violence" (Sunstein). 2. Example: An example would be that fragmentation may result in cybercascades. Cybercascades happen when certain information (factual or opinionated) becomes widespread simply because so many people believe it to be true. ii. Information 1. Definition: According to the author, "information is a public good in the technical sense that once one person knows something, other people are likely to benefit as well" (Sunstein). 2. Example: An example of information is if one learns about a crime in his/her neighborhood, he/she may tell other people. The people that are told this information will benefit from this. iii. Freedom 1. Concept: A widely-held view on freedom consists of being able to have private preferences and not having any restrictions placed on individual choices. Freedom is the chance to have beliefs and preferences, regardless of being exposed to various kinds of information (Sunstein). 2. Example: An example of freedom would quite simple be the freedom of speech, which is the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and also a part of the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech is the political right and freedom to communicate one's own beliefs, opinions, and ideas. References: